Reviews by Friends of HappyHartz

mindyvol says "Simple Shoes is Simply the Best!" about Simple Shoes

mindyvol — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:11:02 GMT

I stumbled upon the sale section of the Simple Shoes website one day and it's the only time that I can honestly say that I was happy to stumble. I love to buy shoes but it's just not in my budget to spend a lot of money on shoes for my family. I'm a sale-seeking-shoe-shopping mom and that's exactly what I get when I purchase my family's shoes in the sale section at SimpleShoes.com.

When I am able to purchase a pair of high quality, comfortable, adorable shoes for $10 or less, including free shipping, that makes for one happy mom. Yes, I was actually able to buy one pair of shoes for each member of my family for less than $10 per pair delivered right to my door! I can rarely beat those prices at my local discount stores.

Believe it or not but better than the price is the excellent quality and environmentally-friendly business practices. Simple Shoes is committed to making their product 100% sustainable and uses such materials as organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, recycled inner...

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mindyvol says "Much more than a toy box!" about Little Tikes Giant Toy Chest

mindyvol — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:46:10 GMT

The Little Tikes Giant Toy Chest was given to my daughter when she was two years old. At the time, most of her toys were too big to fit inside but that didn't stop her older brother and her from finding other uses for it. They discovered how much fun it was to sit inside of the toy chest and play pretend. So not only was this a toy chest, but also a race car, pirate ship, play house and more (with adorable pictures to prove it). The kids had plenty of room inside for themselves and lots of their toys. Even our beloved dog, Daisy, wasn't excluded from the fun (safely supervised, of course).

Flash forward two years and this is still a much-used and favorite item in our household. The kids don't climb inside of it as much as they used to but it now holds many of their favorite possessions. There is ample room for lots of toys but the Little Tikes Giant Toy Chest doesn't overwhelm our playroom and make it feel small.

I'm a neurotic mom who likes things neat and easy to find. ...

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mindyvol says "Not the quality costume that mom used to make" about Disguise Spider-Man Costume

mindyvol — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:16:44 GMT

Trying to be a cool mom and get ahead of the game, I purchased a Spider-Man costume for my son several months before Halloween. The costume is distributed by Disguise (TM) and is available for sale on several websites. I made the early purchase because my son is a big fan of Spider-Man and the online sale that I found was a scoop-it-up-now deal.

When I received my package, I opened it up and noticed right away that there were a few loose threads hanging around the back of the neckline. Not wanting the hassle of returning the costume (hindsight is everything), I went ahead and clipped the extra threads and put the costume away.

I retrieved the costume in mid-September so that my son could wear it to an early Halloween event (yes, VERY early, I know). After putting it on, I noticed that there was a one-inch section of the costume that was not sewn along the seam line. Much to my chagrin, there was nothing that I could do at that point since my son needed to wear it right then. ...

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mindyvol says "Terrible! Even my dog snubbed her nose at this!" about Healthy Choice Portabella Marsala Pasta

mindyvol — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:32:46 GMT

I'm a busy mom and a big fan of quick and healthy dinners. Therefore, I've been an avid consumer of Healthy Choice products for several years. When I heard that they had a new line of frozen meals on the market, I eagerly snapped several of them right up knowing that they just HAD to be good.

Boy, my optimism was quickly deflated after trying the Healthy Choice Portabella Marsala Pasta. It was downright revolting. In fact, it was so bad that even my dog wouldn't eat it. I didn't even bother to try to pawn it off on my husband or kids. The smell alone would have gagged them.

Okay, so let's back up and go to the beginning. What is the Portaballa Marsala Pasta you ask? It's a 9 grain pasta with baby portabella mushrooms and marsala wine sauce, topped with fontina cheese. Sounds delish right? Yeah, that's what I thought too.

I should have known that I was in for a surprise when I peeled back the film cover after cooking and a weird stench hit the air. It...

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mindyvol says "PureVia is a Pure Delight" about PureVia All Natural Zero Calorie Sweetener

mindyvol — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:34:31 GMT

Never one to turn down a free sample, I jumped at the chance to try PureVia All Natural Zero Calorie Sweetener, when the offer came my way. I consider myself the Queen of Sweeteners so I welcomed the chance to try something new.

I've tried just about every sweetener on the market from Equal to Sweet'N'Low to Splenda, and even remember those long ago popular days of Tab soft drinks, which contained saccharin (rumored to cause cancer). Currently, my sweetener of choice is Splenda, which I use not only on my fresh food but also to bake with. The fear of consuming too much aspartame over the years convinced me to try Splenda, which is a no calorie sweetener that is made of sucralose and maltodextrin, not aspartame.

Last year I was introduced to the liquid form of stevia, a sugar substitute that comes from the stevia leaf. I'm not an expert on sugar sweeteners (I'm just the Queen), so I don't know all of the facts about stevia, but I had heard that it was a tasty and...

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